Which national historical scientist did most for your country and the world? - Historum

**jeroenrottgering** · November 23rd, 2012, 05:34 AM

Same as my previous thread only now focused on scientist or technologists.

For me it will be Antoni van Leeuwenhoek:

With confidence I can say that this man is the founding father of modern medicine studies. His discovery of the telescope was a massive breakthrough for the scientific world. It abled the studies of bacteria, deceases, viruses and other medical research. On his invention most of todays medicine studies are build. So that's why his legacy to the world as a scientist is enormous.

But I have to say I doubted between him and Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Jansen and Jacob Metius, the three Dutch inventors of the telescope. Which again can be seen as the seed to modern astronomy.

Now you!

funakison · November 23rd, 2012, 06:51 AM

Sir Issac Newton stands head and shoulder above any other British scientist he was a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist and theologian, who has been considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, laid the foundations for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Newton showed that the motion of objects on Earth and that of celestial bodies is governed by the same set of natural laws:
The Principia is generally considered to be one of the most important scientific books ever written, both due to the specific physical laws the work successfully described, and for its style, which assisted in setting standards for scientific publication down to the present time.Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colours that form the visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound .

**Naomasa298** · November 23rd, 2012, 07:33 AM

Alan Turing.

**Zeno** · November 23rd, 2012, 08:00 AM

Vesalius, Andreas (Andries van Wesel) one of the founders of modern human anatomy. He actually dissected corpses and wrote the first textbook on human anatomy. Lived from 1514 to 1564.

De_humani_corporis_fabrica

Mercator, Gerardus (Gerard De Cremer) 1512-1594, cartographer, or as he would prefer scientific cosmographer; dubbed the Ptolemaeus of his time, invented the Mercator projection which is still the most common way to reproduce the globe's surface on a flat map.

Mercator_projection

**Linschoten** · November 23rd, 2012, 08:09 AM

Darwin or Newton for Britain.

If Leeuwenhoek on the biological side in the Netherlands, how about Christiaan Huyghens for physics?

Christiaan_Huygens

**Gorge123** · November 23rd, 2012, 08:14 AM

for china: Shen Kuo, great scientis

The merchant of Venice · November 23rd, 2012, 08:43 AM

Galileo, the first great "modern" scientist of europe, and one of the first to explicitally state that mathematics is the language of nature. Also, his view of the relationship between religion and science, and the fact that the bible was to not take in a literal sense since it was written in a way to make ignorant people get God's message had massive legacies on philosophy, and eventually imposed themself as the view that many believers held today

**Mangekyou** · November 23rd, 2012, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funakison

Sir Issac Newton stands head and shoulder above any other British scientist he was a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist and theologian, who has been considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, laid the foundations for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Newton showed that the motion of objects on Earth and that of celestial bodies is governed by the same set of natural laws:
The Principia is generally considered to be one of the most important scientific books ever written, both due to the specific physical laws the work successfully described, and for its style, which assisted in setting standards for scientific publication down to the present time.Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colours that form the visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naomasa298

Alan Turing.

Good choices. As far as polymath's go, I would also mention Thomas Young, who was most famously, partially responsible for deciphering the Rosetta stone.

**Ancientgeezer** · November 23rd, 2012, 12:51 PM

Too many to name for Britain--the result of James Clerk Maxwell's work is all around--in fact you are using it now. His works allowed Einstein to develop the theory of special relativity and aided the foundation of quantum physics.

In a couple of hundred years the discoveries of Crick and Watson into DNA struture may prove to be amongst the most significant in human history. Today DNA analysis finds criminals, unearths the past and identifies genetic disease. In the future in may cure those diseases and end up making new people, even species.

Larrey · November 23rd, 2012, 04:16 PM

Carl Linnaeus, botany (systematics generally really), and Jacob Berzelius (chemistry) for Sweden.

Funnily enough, there's also in Sweden too many of these eggheads to actually mention them all. But since the OP asked for an opinion about the most important/influential, one must make do...